It seems like the culinary world has been slightly obsessed with the salty/sweet combination lately. I keep seeing salted caramel desserts and fleur de sel sprinkled on top of various desserts. I for one, am completely for this. Once I made the infamous NY Times chocolate chip cookie recipe with sea salt sprinkled on top, I was hooked. So when I had a bunch of left over pretzel salt from making soft pretzels, I knew exactly what I would do with it.These cookies were awesome. I loved what the pretzels added to the cookie. They stayed nice and crispy, which was a great contrast to the chewy cookie. And of course you can't go wrong with milk chocolate chips and peanut butter chips.I absolutely loved the combination of pretzel, milk chocolate, and peanut butter and I would make these again in a second. The only change I might make next time is to the base cookie recipe. I strayed from my normal recipe because I wanted to find a recipe that made less cookies (strange, I know). This recipe was good, but if you have a favorite cookie recipe feel free to use that instead.Another note about these cookies is that they did not spread very much for me. The first batch barely spread at all, so I smushed down the second batch a little before putting them in the oven.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In a larger bowl, beat the butter and sugars together on medium speed until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes). On low speed, slowly add the beaten egg and vanilla extract. Beat to combine, scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Add the flour mixture and beat just until there are no more streaks of flour. Stir in the chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, and preztels. Cover and refrigerate for an hour.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Scoop out well rounded tablespoonfuls of the dough and sprinkle with pretzel salt. Leave about 2 inches between each ball. Bake for 10 minutes. If you prefer crispier cookies increase the baking time by 1-2 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before removing.

Wow!! Those look great. It seems like the pretz el & cookie combo is becoming very popular. I made a similar version a few weeks ago, but mine had rolo's in them. The sea salt on top of yours sounds really yummy. If your interested in how I made mine you can check them out here: http://www.madewithpink.com/2010/07/chocolate-cookie-pretzel-rolo.html

Have you tried the cookies with chips in them? I want to try those next :)

Those sound delicious with the peanut butter chips!! I make them all the time (I keep getting requests for these cookies!!) and found that the pretzels prevent the cookie from flattening and spreading in the oven. Check mine out here: http://cookteen.blogspot.com/2010/05/sweet-and-salty-cookie.html

I stumbled on your blog and am happy to become your 100th follower! I love your blog and can't wait to go through all your recipes. These cookies look like something I need to bake soon. Perhaps this week even. Great pix too! Thanks for sharing.

Yum! As a pregnant gal nearing the end of her first trimester, I'm powerless to my cravings. I spotted these when someone posted them on Pinterest and I knew I was a goner!

I used white chocolate chips in place of the peanut butter chips (as I didn't have any on hand), and I had some dark chocolate discs that I chopped in place of the milk chocolate chips (also didn't have any on hand). I'm waiting for my sainted husband to get home with the pretzels, at which time I'll stir 'em in and give these cookies a whirl.

I'm baking them now. I chilled dough for 1 hr as indicated. I pressed down-lightly-on the cookies before baking. My cookies totally spread...at least this first cookie sheet-ful. Why did they spread out so much??????

I made these last weekend, they were fantastic! Everyone loved them. I already have my infamous snickerdoodle cookies but I can see these quickly climbing toward the top of my familes favorite list and becoming a real competitor for the new favorite! Thank you for sharing this recipe!

I made these for a retirement/block/football party. My aunt grabbed one and before she finished it, she grabbed another. I feel as they were a success. My great aunt had four. My coworkers were jealous of the pic I posted on FB so I have dough in the fridge waiting to be baked. Thanks so very much!

I just made these last night and they came out pretty good. They look exactly like the picture. I would recommend NOT adding the pretzel salt to the top of the dough before putting them in the oven. They come out wayyyyyyy too salty. The salt for the pretzels is plenty. After throwing out a batch I liked the rest. Yummy!

We made these for the Super Bowl last night. They are the best mouthful of joy you can bake! Salty, sweet & chocolate/peanut butter...what could not be good about that. The pretzels add so much to the cookie, we made them small and ate them all!

Sarah, YUM! I just started a blog reviewing recipes found on Pinterest. Here's this one: http://pineatreview.wordpress.com/2012/02/10/pretzel-cookies-with-peanut-butter-and-chocolate-chips/. (I was sure to give you credit throughout.) Thanks for posting! --Denise

Mmmmmm! Made these for v-day, substituting red, pink, and white m&ms for the PB chips. Also used semi-sweet instead of milk choc chips, bought by mistake. I used Splenda instead of the white sugar, too, and my hubby couldn't even tell. Best part is the salt on top! Deeeee-lish! Thanks so much!

These were really good! Made them over the weekend and my husband and I nearly demolished them all :-/ I didn't have peanut butter chips, so I used a combo of white chocolate and dark chocolate chips in their place. I was happy to have all the ingredients for these cookies on hand. Thanks for the recipe...I'll definitely be making them again!

These things are AMAZING. I made a batch yesterday and my roommate called them "crack cookies" haha. However I didn't have peanut butter chips & instead used butterscotch chips, and they were still so good. I'm going to be making this recipe for many years to come!

These were excellent! I used choc. and white chips as that's what I had on hand. I used a 1/4 scoop and pressed flat and they made a tasty chewy cookies. Of course they were best directly from the oven but still pretty addicting after they cooled off. Thanks for sharing!

The salt on top sounded weird but I loved it, I forgot on the first batch and the second batch was so much better! I personally will do 3/4 cup each of the chocolate chips & peanut butter chips next time because I love peanut butter! Thanks for the recipe

I made these last night with one twist.... I used my 4-flour blend (bran, rye, whole wheat, & all purpose) that I am now replacing almost all of my baking & cooking with. I was a little worried when I started mixing that it would be a huge flop. The dough was sooooo stiff! I couldn't begin to mix the chips in with the mixer and re-read the recipe a couple times, making sure there wasn't a liquid item that I had overlooked. I hand mixed in the chips, but there was no way I could mix in the pretzel bits. The batter was so crumbly that we ended up using our hands to pick out dough, making sure we had a blend of pb & choc chips and then adding pretzel chips right to our hands and making a ball. It was time consuming! All that being said, the cookies are Deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelicious! And the whole grain bang that I snuck in doesn't take anything away from them at all. There is a bit of a nuttier undertone (more due to the rye flour than anything else, I am sure). But the guilt factor I had after eating my 3rd one was SO much less than it would have been otherwise! Totally worth making again! A delicious sweet, yet salty treat! (I won't declare my version as "healthy" but "less-guilt" yes!) :)

My batch is in the frig right now. I'm trying a slightly different version and I hope it turns out. I didn't have the peanut butter chips so I added 1 Tblsp of real peanut butter. The batter was delicious. Hopefully the cookies will keep their shape and consistency. And I was thinking that the 100% peanut butter does make it a bit "healthier" ... If there is such a thing : )

I'm on the quest for the best chocolate chip cookie recipes and I hope you'll consider adding this post to the Chocolate Chip Cookie Challenge link-up on Aug 15th. Learn more here: http://bit.ly/NOm7mT